John Paul DeJoria visited his mother’s homeland and offered a timely talk to young Greek entrepreneurs at a Hellenic Initiative event titled “How to start a business with little or no money.”

The billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist knows the subject very well since he made an empire starting while he was so poor that he was sleeping in his car in Los Angeles.

“Never give up!” That wast the spirit that he wanted to pass to the audience as the majority of Greeks don’t have much to work with after a nine-year crisis that has made most of their wealth disappear.

However, “Greece needs to be more friendly to entrepreneurs, the country needs to change on that and to help the private sector,” noted the founder and owner of Paul Mitchell hair care products and Patron tequila.

Watch the full talk below:

DeJoria also noted that Greece should not be paying the vast sum of the money it receives from the bailouts to loans. “There should be funds directed towards the real economy.”

Asked if he will invest in the country, he said: “I will invest in Greece, don’t ask me yet where, but I am looking at a few things.”

Dejoria is half Greek since his mother immigrated to the US from the Greek city of Kavala. and he takes pride on his heritage. “I have many relatives in Greece, they are all here today.”

“Good Fortune,” a documentary about the Greek-American’s rags to riches tale of conscious capitalism opened this weekend in the US.